We haven’t had a puzzle with an unhidden theme for a while so today’s Hieroglyph was very welcome.
We remember the thematic TV Series at 16ac from the 1960s, although it was not exactly essential viewing even then – we’ve never really been that keen on horror films. The series was however a good spoof on the genre. We remembered most of the characters as they were well-portrayed stereotypes of witches, ghouls and weirdos.
It took us a while to get into the puzzle as there were several quite tricky (to our minds) clues, but, as is her wont, Joyce got us started by going for the last two down clues where the entries are shorter, and 22d got us into the theme.
We have to congratulate Hieroglyph on managing to get no less than nine strangely named thematic characters into the grid, as well as the theme itself. A good Thursday challenge which was nothing to do with today’s big event!!
| Across | ||
| 6 | Supremely rough horse in race – it’s doddering | |
| CRAGGIEST | GG (horse) in an anagram of RACE IT’S – anagrind is ‘doddering’ | |
| 8 | Freely available as H might be? | |
| ON TAP | A reference to the letter H on some taps to indicate it is the hot tap | |
| 10 | High society fop moaned about losing advance | |
| BEAU MONDE | BEAU (fop) + an anagram of MO |
|
| 11 | Member of 16A’s weak government | |
| THING | THIN (weak) + G (government) – the first and perhaps most memorable thematic entry – a disembodied hand treated as a pet. | |
| 12 | Courts greatness, boarding a steamship | |
| ASSIZES | SIZE (greatness) in or ‘boarding’ A SS (steamship) | |
| 14 | Canadian university’s master of ceremonies needing a breather | |
| MCGILL | MC (master of ceremonies) + GILL (‘breather’, as in fish) | |
| 16 | Show time! Man put on a paper issue | |
| THE ADDAMS FAMILY | T (time) + HE (man) + ADD (put on) + A + MS (paper – manuscript) + FAMILY (issue). The thematic American TV series from the late 1960s based on a series of New Yorker cartoons from the 1930s by Charles Addams. | |
| 18 | Member of 16A following bum steer | |
| FESTER | F (following) + an anagram of STEER – anagrind is ‘bum’. The 2nd thematic member – 4d’s uncle in the TV series | |
| 19 | Informally fine a liberal conservative | |
| ALRIGHT | A + L (liberal) + RIGHT (conservative) | |
| 23 | Within international borders of Romania | |
| INTRA | INT (international) + R and A (first and last letters or ‘borders’ of RomaniA) | |
| 24 | Undulating uplands primarily face deserted part of Northern Ireland | |
| UP-AND-DOWN | U (first or ‘primary’ letter of Uplands) + PAN (face) + D (deserted) + DOWN (part of Northern Ireland) | |
| 26/1 | Member of 16A’s first-rate degrees | |
| GRANDMAMA | GRAND (first rate) + MA MA (degrees) – 3rd thematic entry | |
| 27 | Member of 16A’s commanding officer intuits disaster | |
| COUSIN ITT | CO (commanding officer) + an anagram of INTUITS – anagrind is ‘disaster’. 4th thematic entry, and one we had to check electronically as we didn’t remember him | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | See 27A | See 27A |
| 2 | Member of 16A with Milliband and yes, Balls | |
| WEDNESDAY | W (with) + ED (Ed Miliband) + an anagram of AND YES – anagrind is ‘balls’. 5th thematic entry – one of the children | |
| 3 | Some leave the room? Heavens! | |
| ETHER | Hidden (‘some’) in ‘leavE THE Room’ | |
| 4 | Covering drunken riot, Frenchman spies member of 16A | |
| MORTICIA | An anagram of RIOT (anagrind is ‘drunken’) in or ‘covered by’ M (monsieur – Frenchman) CIA (spies). 6th thematic entry – the matriarch of the family | |
| 5 | Tragic acting: is it affecting Greek style? | |
| ATTICISING | An anagram of ACTING IS IT – anagrind is ‘tragic’ | |
| 6 | Snake charmer’s foremost love, bar snakes | |
| COBRA | C (first letter or ‘foremost’ of Charmer) + O (love) + an anagram of BAR (anagrind is ‘snakes’) | |
| 7 | Member of 16A ultimately leaving setter in Australia | |
| GOMEZ | G (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of leavinG) + ME (setter) in OZ (Australia). 7th thematic entry – the patriarch of the family | |
| 9 | Member of 16A dogs extremely loathsome youth, principally | |
| PUGSLEY | PUGS (dogs) + L and E (first and last or ‘extreme’ letters of ‘LoathsomE) + Y (first or ‘principal’ letter of Youth). 8th thematic entry – one of the children | |
| 13 | There’s a sad reaction! (Cries) | |
| SHEDS A TEAR | An anagram of THERE’S A SAD – anagrind is ‘reaction’ | |
| 15 | Having consumed tea, say, boiled pasta sauce with starter of spring vegetable | |
| ASPARAGUS | An anagram of PAS |
|
| 16 | In a huff with lunch guest after rejection of suet pudding | |
| TIFFING | TIFFIN (lunch) + G (‘Guest’ without an anagram of ‘suet’ – anagrind is ‘pudding’) | |
| 17 | Detective Inspector Morse, ultimately tough on southern reactionaries | |
| DIEHARDS | DI (Detective inspector) + E (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of MorsE) + HARD (tough) + S (southern) | |
| 20 | Artist beginning to draw eleven bones | |
| RADII | RA (artist) + D (first letter or ‘beginning’ to Draw) + II (eleven) | |
| 21 | Teaching English under canvas? | |
| TENET | E (English) in TENT (under canvas) | |
| 22 | 16A’s man left old city church | |
| LURCH | L (left) + UR (old city) + CH (church). 9th thematic entry – the family butler, another memorable character | |
| 25 | Poet’s old recording | |
| OVID | O (old) + VID (recording) | |
Thanks B&J. This ingenious offering from Hieroglyph was a lot of fun. People who don’t like this sort of puzzle suggest that all you have to do is Google the theme and the rest becomes a write-in. I only have a passing acquaintance with the cartoons and subsequent films so it was an enjoyable challenge to solve without Google. Most of the themed answers were vaguely familiar. The only two where I needed to rely on wordplay were Pugsley and Cousin Itt.
Good fun for those of us who remember the show. Needed the (splendid) blog to parse ASPARAGUS fully so thank you for that. Cousins Itt was the short very hairy one as I recall who spoke in a squeaky garbled way. He might have had sunglasses but it’s a long time ago.
Very enjoyable while it lasted. I loved the show when it first aired and I remember all the characters, although the films must have helped to keep them in my memory. My FOI was ON TAP, the O checker helped me get MORTICIA from the wordplay straight away, and then the gateway clue was a write-in. I finished back in the NW with CRAGGIEST after GOMEZ.
Most enjoyable, as was the TV programme. It was 18a which cracked the theme for me.
Thanks for the fun Hieroglyph and to B&J for sorting out the asparagus, d’oh!
Really teasing and rewarding puzzle and blog. Thanks to both, although 5d defeated me.
This was one of those puzzles which became much easier and more enjoyable if you cracked the theme quickly. Fortunately, 18 was fairly easy and gave it away immediately if you remembered the show at all. I’d watched enough to be able to remember most of the characters apart from Grandmama and Wednesday.
My entrée to the theme was 9D, which I derived from 8A, itself a clue I have come across before. Many of the answers then became write-ins based on word length. In my youth I used to really fancy Morticia. It could have been worse I suppose, but I was never sure of a Cousin Itt’s gender. Must have been something to do with long blonde hair.
Once I had the clan complete I found only a slight bit of difficulty, except for 5D and 14A.
A pleasant solve for me compared to some lately, e.g.Tuesday! Anyway good to see an apology in today’s paper.
Thanks to setter and bloggers.
I liked this less than the rest of you. The theme just struck me as a bit bizarre and chasing down lots of strange proper names didn’t strike me as much fun. Hey ho. Here’s to the Scottish Independence crossword tomorrow.
9dn was the entry for me, too, but having guessed 16ac, and then confirmed it from all the other references (dredged from my memory) I couldn’t parse it. Now I know, thanks. And I was just about to check here when I noticed I’d forgotten to fill in 16dn, but I got it without too much trouble.
Had the same experience, 9d fell, remembered the source and the rest quickly followed. I remember it well the Addams family, spent many hours at university playing a pinball table of the same name. Cheers b&j and H.
Sorry not for me, as a very limited television viewer and a five year puzzle.
This was again a crossword for the experts.